UPDATED: Human remains near Happy Camp prompt murder investigation

Sheriff's office doesn't believe remains are connected to cold cases

Siskiyou county sheriff's deputies found human remains earlier this week but the sheriff's office doesn't believe the remains are related to any of the county's cold cases, a spokesperson said Thursday.

On Tuesday deputies, continuing their search with help from Chico State University anthropologists and Jackson County Search and Rescue, found more remains, apparently those of a second person, about 300 yards from the truck.

Wild animals have disturbed the remains, making it difficult for investigators to identify the victims and determine how and when they died, said Allison Giannini, Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office spokesperson.

Authorities are treating the case as homicide until they can get a better idea what happened to the victims, deputies said.

Giannini said Thursday deputies believe the victims died recently, but they're having a hard time determining exactly when that happened.

"It's just hard to tell how recently," she said.

Giannini also said the sheriff's office doesn't suspect the remains are connected to any missing persons or cold case murders in Siskiyou County.

Sheriff Jon Lopey has said that since he's been elected he's made solving long-standing disappearances, as well as a number of cold case murders, a priority.

Siskiyou County sheriff's deputies arrested a Hornbrook man in June in connection with the 22-year-old cold-case murder of Kimberly Kantonen, who disappeared March 8, 1989, at age 19. Her body was never found.

Deputies arrested Arnold Aggas Sr., 66, on suspicion of the murder. He's in Siskiyou County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bail and is awaiting an Aug. 9 hearing on a challenge to the charges filed by his defense attorney.

Investigators in Siskiyou County have said they may be close to solving a pair of suspicious disappearances that have gone unsolved for 14 years.

Karin Knechtel Mero, 27 at the time, and Hannah Zaccaglini, 19 at the time, disappeared in 1997.

The sheriff's office identified suspects in the disappearances and forwarded the information to the District Attorney's Office for review earlier this year but to date no charges have been filed.